Republican staff photo by Michael BeswickVanessa James (left) and Natasha Kezer, both fifth-graders at the James C. Selser School in Chicopee look at the items from Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology to be used in a birding program where the students learn about birds and make bird houses.

CHICOPEE – Children at James C. Selser School are soon going to be learning math, English and even carpentry during an upcoming science class where they will study birds.

Under state standards all fifth-graders study birds in science but children at Selser School will take the lesson much father, said Judith M. Hebert, the school’s science teacher.

In its third year in the program, the school has also received supplies and other assistance from the ornithology program at Cornell University so the program can be expanded so children can hang bird feeders and attract and watch the birds, she said.

“Our kids study and research Western Massachusetts birds and they design an appropriate bird house for one of them,” she said.

Working with other teachers, including those at Comprehensive High School, Hebert has designed a curriculum that includes related lessons for reading class, math class and students even have the chance to get an introduction into drafting and carpentry, she said.

“Mr. (School Vocational Director Kenneth) Widelo and I wrote the curriculum. We do lessons so we can incorporate different learning standards,” she said.

After studying birds, children in the fifth grade split into groups and run a campaign to select a bird for which they will eventually build a house. Using information they have learned, children campaign for the bird they want based on different characteristics of each bird. All the classes then vote on their favorite, she said.

Last year the house was built for a mourning dove and the previous year the blue jay was selected, Hebert said.

After the bird is selected, children start designing a house that would have the right size entrance hole, perch and other things for that particular bird. They do the figuring and measuring in math class and read about different birds in English language arts class, she said.

One of the highlights is children then board a bus and spend an afternoon at Comprehensive High School, learning from vocational students, she said.

“They go to the drafting department and the high school students show how they create their design on the computer,” Hebert said.

They also visit the carpentry department and eventually those students cut the different pieces out of wood and send them back to Selser so the fifth-graders can assemble and finish the house, she said.